Email marketing has long served as an effective method of increasing customer engagement. Furthermore, with more than 3.7 billion users in the past year alone, and over 225 billion emails sent every day, this trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Current technical advances in AI are facilitating increased personalisation capacity, which is allowing organisations to do more with their email campaigns.
Marketing professionals are on the lookout for ways to take advantage of new capabilities when designing memorable campaigns. Personalisation is a key aspect of this process as it results in more customer interaction, loyalty and advocacy, leading to an increased ROI. Here are some of the most exciting new trends in email marketing.
Fine-tuning processes for GDPR
The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming into into effect on May 25 2018. The GDPR will introduce significant changes by providing consumers with unprecedented control over their private data. Companies will have to do more than guarantee that data is stored safely, they also have to provide customers with the option to control, monitor, check and even delete information, at their request. Failure to comply with these new measures can result in hefty fines of up to 4% of company turnover or €20 million, depending on which is greater. To design successful, predictive, personalised and interactive emails it is important to have strong data capture software that meets all the regulatory standards.
Our view
Leveraging CRM software to ensure your company’s compliance with new regulations is a step in the right direction. SugarCRM, for example, will allow your company to guarantee safe data storage, and total compliance with new regulations.
The future of automation and AI
Automation and AI are on everybody’s lips in the marketing world, and for good reason. New advances in the ability to collect and process data mean automated emails now sound more human, and can be better tailored to specific needs. By providing an experience like this, it is possible to create a deeper connection to your target, driving customer loyalty.
Our view
Using reliable CRM software will allow your organisation to keep track of clients’ data, opening you up to the world of AI and email automation. With a more personalised, human approach to email marketing and automation, the end user experiences a more relevant and engaging interaction with your company. We revealed our top tactics for creating easy and effective marketing automation campaigns in one of our lates blogs. Marketing teams will also benefit from better tracking as it provides access to larger data sets, and allows for more accurate individual or group CLV predictions. Furthermore, with added capabilities in accurate ROI tracking and budgeting, the benefits extend to almost every aspect of a company’s processes.
Marketers own the multi-channel experience, so get personal
Cross-channel personalisation will extend your marketing campaign to other channels such as websites, social media and even products. This can be seen as the next generation of thoughtful personalisation which can lead to stronger loyalty and increased advocacy. Smaller companies, such as StitchFix, have been using this technique to good effect by personalising subscription boxes.
Our view
Access to good customer management software with cross-channel capabilities can help personalise the experience for customers. Some enterprise CRMs have an interactive panel that lets you keep on top of your leads and sales processes in real time. This up-to-date data not only helps increase the ability to personalise, but also improves the customer’s perception of your company. Leveraging important tools like the interactive panels allows you to provide a more bespoke, high-quality experience with increased attention to detail.
Experts predict interactive kinetic emails in email marketing
Interactive kinetic emails, which centre on customer interaction through the use of hover buttons, hotspots, add-to-order carts and image carousels, will change the look, feel and experience for the visitor. As a result, emails become more engaging, which increases the likelihood of converting leads, driving loyalty and increasing sales.
Our view
Like with the cross-channel personalisation, knowing your existing customers is fundamental in providing a good experience. Using the data obtained from your enterprise data management software provides the necessary information to be able to design kinetic emails in an effective, personalised way.
Our last word
Email marketing is an extremely profitable channel for driving customer loyalty and increasing conversions. It is an exceptionally effective method of communicating with your customer base as it targets them on a one-to-one basis. That being said, with so many emails sent and received on a daily basis, innovative techniques are needed to help you capture your customers’ attention.
By designing a marketing campaign that takes into account all the new technological advances, your company is able to provide a more personalised, interactive and meaningful human experience to your consumer base. Before launching your campaign, is fundamental to have a solid foundation of customer data and information that is securely stored, GDPR ready and pertinent to your digital email design needs. CRM software is an increasingly integral part of any solid email marketing strategy, the benefits of which stretch across all areas of your business, driving customer loyalty and increasing your ROI.
Didn’t see a trend you know will change the face of email marketing in 2018? Let us know your predictions in the comments.
